Learning’s from the Red Arrows

Last week I was fortunate to spend a day with the Red Arrows behind the scenes at RAF Scampton. Below I highlight some learning’s which drive the Red Arrows success and can readily be applied to business.

1. Recruitment – The Red Arrows selection process is about identifying individuals who will choose a set of behaviours which go with the team agenda over and above a set of behaviours which go with pursuing their own agenda.
2. Leadership – Every member of the Red Arrows is a leader. Each brings with him his own style of leadership but there are three aspects that are common to all – Credibility, Commitment and Integrity.
3. Excellence – The Red Arrows aim is not just to be better than the competition but so much better that they are irrelevant. Their standards are not set by the competition but themselves. They aim for perfection.
4. The Debrief – The Red Arrows aim is always the perfect show, which can never be achieved. The debrief is a key part in this pursuit of excellence. This occurs after every sortie with the meeting being an open forum where everyone speaks, honestly, no hierarchy, and self criticism. It is crucial that the de-brief occurs as soon as possible after the flights whilst everything is still fresh in their minds.
5. Tools to do the job and no more – The Hawk T1, is 30 years old. It is not the most advanced plane, but does the job and enables them to demonstrate flying excellence.
6. Back up team – The Red Arrows are the only squadron in the RAF to have a full engineering team. For other squadrons engineering is outsourced to the private sector eg: Babcocks and BAE. Why? Because it is a critical success factor. These factors must be managed ‘inhouse’.
7. Meetings – Every meeting starts on time. Every meeting has a set agenda. Every meeting provides a clear action plan.
8. Red 1 – In formation, no matter what position a Red pilot is – the focus is always on the leader (Red 1) and where they are relative to him. In the second part of their air display – the team will split and perform separate manoeuvres. When finished, Red 1 will create a white smoke trail to ensure all the team, wherever they are in the skies, know where he is and can get move back into their core formation.
9. Training – the display team has three sections: Enid, Gypo and Sync. Each has a section leader. Each train separately and only when excellence is achieved in that section are they brought together, section by section.
10. Branding – The Red Arrows is a phenomenal brand equated with excellence. Whether taxiing, flying, mixing with the public, hanging out as a team – each pilot will live and breathe the brand. They are the brand and never forget it.